Topless Femen protesters choose a safe way to challenge neo-Nazis

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      If you're curious to know more about Femen—the kamikaze-style Ukrainian group of topless feminist protesters—you might want to check out this article on the Vice magazine site.

      Writer Milene Larsson decided to accompany some of the members on their latest mission: an action against neo-Nazis.

      Larsson quoted one member of the group saying that the last time the antipatriarchal demonstrators confronted these fascists, the women were badly beaten. One of the Femen leaders lost a tooth.

      So this time, they decided to conduct a protest from a distance. Here's how Larsson described what happened:

      Femen had managed to get a room on the third floor of the Hotel Regina, strategically located right behind the nationalists’ sacred Joan of Arc statue. At around noon, when the most violent faction of the ultra-nationalists had arrived at the statue, Inna, Sarah, Pauline, and Oksana emerged on the balcony, bare-breasted in their flower crowns, and swiftly rolled down their banner in front of the hostile neo-Nazis. Unsurprisingly, the fascists tried to storm the hotel, but were quickly pushed back by riot police.

      As they couldn’t get their fists on the girls, the nationalists reverted to Nazi salutes and angry displays of their middle fingers while yelling, “Salopes!” ["Bitches!"], “Suicide-toi!” ["Commit suicide!"] and all sorts of other unfriendly things. The girls answered by blowing kisses toward the furious fascists, all while holding position: chins up and straight arms holding smoke flares. A group of nationalist girls gathered beneath Femen’s balcony, shouting, “We’re waiting for you!”

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